Window regulator mechanism



April 4, 1961 Filed Jan. 20, 1958 A. ARLAUSKAS WINDOW REGULATOR MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

0375/2101 @zzfazwfzr ATTORNEY April 1961 A. ARLAUSKAS 2,978,242

WINDOW REGULATOR MECHANISM Filed Jan. 20, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENT OR.

April 4, 1961 A. ARLAUSKAS WINDOW REGULATOR MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 20, 1958 I N VEN TOR afrfi/zrazr az/aaxka A TT ORA/E Y April 4, 1961 A. ARLAUSKAS 2,978,242

WINDOW REGULATOR MECHANISM Filed Jan. 20. 1958 4 Shets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY wnsmow REGULATOR MECHANISM,

Alfonsas Arlauskas,.Detroit, Mich., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 20, 1958, Ser. No. 710,109

1 Claim. (Cl. 268-121) .This invention.- relates to, window regulator. mechanisms and. more particularly to ventilator window regulator mechanisms.

The ventilator window regulator mechanism of this invention is intended, primarily for use with ventilator windows of the typewhich. are swingable. about a generally fixed pivotal axis for movement between open and closed positions. This type of ventilator window is often used in vehicle bodies, either asarear quarter window or as;a door'ventipane. window- In the past the regulator mechanisms have ofterrincludeda manually operable crank arm which was connected to the ventilator window through a. gear drive. unit for moving the window between. open. and closed positions, with an independent latch device being provided to hold the window in closed positionagainst forcible: entry.

The mechanism. of this invention is of'the push-pull, type and, is. operative to move. the ventilator window betweenopen and closed positions with a minimum amount of. effort being exerted by the operator, and in addition, the mechanism is operative to holdv the window in closed position against forcible movement thereof toward an open position without benefit, of any independent latch device.

The primary object of this; invention is to provide an improvedxventil'ator window regulator. mechanism. Another object of this invention is to. provide an improved ventilator window regulator mechanism for moving a ventilatorwindow between open and closed positions and holding the: ventilatorywindow' in closed position against forcible. movement without benefit ofany independent latch device;

These. and. other objects of: this invention will. be readily apparent from the following specification and drawingswherein:

Figure 1 is a partial side elevational view. ofa vehicle body door having a swingable ventilator window, shown in closed position, and embodying a ventilator window regulator mechanism according to one embodiment of thisinvention;

Figure 2 is a view similar toFigure 1 showing the ventilator window-inopen position and the ventilator window regulator mechanism when the window is: in this position;

Figure 3'i's an enlarged sectional view taken along the plane indicated by the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is anenlarged sectional view taken along the plane indicated by the line 44 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1 and'showinganother embodiment'of this invention.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, a vehicle body front door includes an upper door frame I-Zdefi'ning a' window opening 14, with the rear portion of the window opening being opened and closed by a vertically movable door window 16' and the front portion of .the window opening being opened and closed by. a swingable ventilator or ventipane window 18 movable.

- between ajclosed. position, as shown in, Figure 1,. and an.

ice

open position, as shown in, Figure 2 From a comparison of these: figures, it can be seen that the; forward; portion of the ventilator window. swings inboard of, the body and, the rearwardportion thereof; swings outboard of the body when the ventilator window is moved froma closed to an open position, The lower portion of the door 10 includes spaceddoor inner and door outer panels 20 and 22, respectively, which define a window well 24 receiving the vertically movable window 16 in the open position. thereof. The inner and outer panels are secured together in spaced relationship to define the window well by suitable structural members including an upper door structural member 26. As best seen in Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings, an angular bracket, 28 has one leg 29 thereof welded or otherwise secured to member 26 and the other leg thereof bolted at 30 to a leg of an offset flanged bracket 32. Bracket 32 is welded at 34 to the upper portion of an offset fiangedi regulator back plate 36 in order to mount the "back plate within the window well 24;

The ventilator windowv 18 is provided with upper and lower pivot shafts, only the lower shaft 38 being shown, which define the fixed, pivotalv axis of swinging movement'of the window between open and closed positions. The shaft 38 extends through openings 40' in the structural member 26 and bracket 28' into the window well 24. The lower. flattened end 42 of the shaft 38 is re-. ceived within aslot 43 provided in an: enlarged boss. 44. at. the upper end of a drive shaft 46. The shaft 381is bolted at 45 to shaft 46, and an access and clearance opening 4'1 is provided in bracket 3-2 for the bolt and boss 44; The drive shaft 46.- is. journaled within a pair of. generally rectangularly shaped bearing blocks 48- and 59 which are bolted together and. tothe bracket 32 and; upper portion of the back plate 36 at 52. A leafspr-ing 54' has one end 56 thereof bearing against a shoulder of block 48 and the otherv end thereof bolted at 58' to the block so as totightly engage the drive shaft 46 and apply a frictional braking force to the shaft: during movement of the shaft". and to also hold the shaft in any rotative position thereof against movement.

Anoifse'tbell crank 60. is pivotallysecuredtothe backplate 36 at 62, with one leg of the bell crank being pivotally secured at 64? to a-v link. 66. Asbest shown in Figure 3; the other end of the, link 66 mounts a fixed stud 68 which extends inboard. of thebody through a linear slot 70 provided in an escutcheon membei Z2 fixedly mounted in a suitable manner within an opening in the door inner panel 20. A manuallyoperable knob 76 is secured to. the stud' 68 by a set screw 78 and provides a means for anoperator within thebody for swing-.. ing the bellcrank 66. about its pivot 62 onthe back plate. The other leg of the bell crank 601is pivotally secured at 80 to one end of alink 82. The other end of the link 32 is pivotally secured at 84 to. one end of a pairof toggle links 86 and 88, respectively, with the other-end of toggle link 88 beingpivotally secured at 90 to the back plate 36: and the other'end of the toggle link 86 beingpivotallyv secured at 92 to a link 94; Z a i As can be. seenin Figures 1. and 3 of the drawings, the lower'end of the drive shaft 46 is provided with an integral bevel drive gear Q6, with an opening 97 being cut in the back plate 36 to provide clearance for; the bevel gear. The-bevel gear 96 meshes with a sector gear 98; which includes a pivot 'shaft 100 journalled within a flanged bushing 162 securediin a suitable manner within an opening in the back plate 36'. The shaft 100 is provided with an opposite pairof flat' sides 104 andreceives a similar shaped opening 106 in the other end'of the 0 link 94 to slidably and non-rotatably. securethe link 9i4;

to the shaft 106... A nut 108'is threaded on the: threaded end 110 of the. shaft 100 in order: to. locate theliahfi' Patented Apr. 4, 1961 thereon in engagement with the flanged bushing 102, as shown in Figure 3 of the drawings.

The ventilator window is shown in closed position in Figure 1 of the drawings and the ventilator window regulator mechanism is shown in position when the ventilator window is in this position. Assuming now that the driver or operator of the vehicle desires to move the ventilator window 18 from its closed position, as shown in Figure l, to its fully open position, as shown in Figure 2. The driver or operator will manually grasp the knob 76 and move the knob to the left, as viewed in Figure l, to move the stud 68 in the same direction within the slot 70 of the escutcheon member. As the stud moves in this direction, the link 66 will be bodily moved in the same direction to swing the bell crank 60 counterclockwise about its pivot 62 on the back plate 36. Since the linear distance between the stud 68 and the pivot 62 is less than the combined distance between the stud 68 and the pivot 64 and the pivot 64 and the stud 62, the bell crank 60 must move in a counterclockwise direction when the stud is moved within the slot 70 of the escutcheon member, and additionally the link 66 will be folded relative to the bell crank during this movement. As the bell crank 60 swings counterclockwise about its pivot 62, it will shift the link 82 downwardly to thereby break the alignment between the toggle links 86 and 88 and swing the link 94 counterclockwise about the axis of the pivot shaft 100 of the sector gear 98. This will rotate the sector gear in the same direction to rotate the bevel gear 96 and turn the drive shaft 46 and the pivot shaft 38 of the ventilator window 18 counterclockwise, as viewed in Figure 4 of the drawings, to move the ventilator window from a closed position to an open position, as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.

When it is desired to move the ventilator window from its open position, as shown in Figure 2, to its closed position, as shown in Figure 1, the knob 76 is grasped and moved to the right, as viewed in Figure 2, to thereby move the members of the window regulator mechanism to their position of Figure 1, with each member moving in a reverse order than as previously described.

As previously mentioned, the window regulator mechanism of this invention includes means for preventing forcible movement of the ventilator window toward an open position when the window is in closed position. This will now be described with reference to Figure 1 of the drawings. When the window is in closed position, it can be seen that the toggle links 86 and 88 are aligned with respect to each other, with the pivots 92, 84 and 90 lying on substantially the same line and with the links being held in this position against a stop tab 112 of the back plate 36 by means of the link 82, the bell crank lever 60 and the link 66. Assuming now that a person applies a force to either the forward or rearward portion of the ventilator window 18 so as to try and move the ventilator window toward an open position. this position, the sector 98 and link 94 must swing in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 1. However, if the sector and link 94 try and swing in this direction, they are prevented from doing so due to the alignment of the pivots 92, 84 and 90, with this alignment being maintained by the stop 112, the links 82 and 66, and lever 60, as previously described. Thus, any forcible movement of the window is prevented. Thus, this embodiment of the invention provides an improved ventilator window regulator mechanism which includes means preventing forcible movement of the window from a closed toward an open position without benefit of any independent latch devices.

Referring now particularly to Figure of the drawings, another embodiment of this invention will be described. Since the embodiment shown in Figure 5 is substantially the same as that previously described, like numerals have been used-for-like-parts-, andonly the differences between .4 the embodiments will be particularly described. One of the primary differences of the-embodiment shown in Figure 5 is in the connection between the manual operating means and the bell crank lever 60. In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, a stud 114 is fixedly secured to the upper end of the bell crank lever 60 and moves within an arcuate slot 116 of an escutcheon member 118 secured in a suitable manner within an opening in the door inner panel 20. The manual operating knob 120 is suitably secured to the stud 114, as by means of a set screw, and it will be noted that the slot 116 has its center at the pivot 62 of the bell crank lever 60 on the back plate 36.

Another difference is in the sector gear arrangement. In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, a lever 122 is pivoted on the back plate at 124 and pivotally secured to the link 86 at 92. The lever 122 includes an integral sector gear 126 which meshes with the bevel gear 98. In this connection, it might be noted that the link 94 and sector gear 98 of the first embodiment of the invention act as a lever during movement of the window so that it can be said that the embodiment shown in Figure 5 merely includes an integral sector gear and lever rather than these members being separate and fixedly secured together.

Another difierence of the embodiment of Figure 5 is in the location of the stop on the back plate. In this embodiment of the invention, the stop 128 is engageable by the lever 122 rather than by the link 88 so as to locate the links 86 and 88 in extended or aligned position when the ventilator window 18 is in closed position, as shown in the drawings.

In order for the ventilator window tomove to The operation of this embodiment of the invention is substantially the same as that previously described in conjunction with Figures l'through 4 of the drawings.

Thus, both embodiments of this invention provide improved ventilator window regulator mechanisms which are operative to move a ventilator window between open and closed positions with a minimum amount of effort being exerted by the driver or operator and in addition, which include means preventing forcible movement of the window from a closed toward an open position without benefit of any independent latch devices.

In addition, it might be noted that a push-pull type of operating means for a ventilator window is preferable over a crank handle type of operating means, since it is much easier for a person to operate the former than the latter. This is particularly true where the driver or operator sits immediately adjacent the vehicle door whereby there is very little room for movement of his arm.

What is claimed is:

In combination with a vehicle body having a ventilator window swingably mounted thereon for movement between open and closed positions, a ventilator window regulator drive mechanism comprising, an operating bell crank lever fulcrumed on said body, a drive lever pivotally mounted on said body to one side of said operating lever and operatively connected to said window for swinging said window between said positions thereof upon swinging movement of said drive lever, a toggle linkage having one link thereof pivotally mounted on said body between the fulcrum of said operating lever thereon and the pivot of said drive lever thereon, means pivotally connecting the other link of said toggle linkage to said drive lever for swinging said drive lever upon folding and unfolding movement of said toggle linkage, operating means connected to one leg of said operating lever for swinging said operating lever, and a drive link pivotally interconnecting the other leg of said operating lever and the pivot joint of said toggle linkage for folding and unfolding said toggle linkage upon swinging movement of said operating lever, said link being arranged to move the pivot joint of said toggle linkage to a position intermediate and in general alignment with the pivot of said one link to said drive lever andthe pivot of said movement of said window toward open position when 5 a force is applied to said window in the closed position thereof tending to move said window toward open position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,094,726 Simpson 001. s, 1937 2,161,199 Rhein et 'al. limes, 1939 2,624,570 Dennis Jan. 6, 1953 

